Jean Paul Gaultier Goes Out With A Bang At Paris Fashion Week

Jean Paul Gaultier, the French Haute Couture and Pret-a-Porter fashion designer said goodbye during Paris Fashion Week with his Spring 2015 Ready-To-Wear collection. Gaultier’s fashion house said that while it may have hung up its hat on ready-to-wear, its attention would instead be on fragrance and “various collaborations within the industry.” Citing commercial restraints and the breakneck pace in which collections are put out, it makes sense that the revolutionary designer would decide to retreat into the world of haute couture.

Rather than having the show be a sad occasion, Gaultier decided to turn a potential funeral instead into a wake with nary a moment for tears. How? Simple. Gaultier threw a beauty pageant.

We should be so lucky to look anything like that in the next 30 or 40 years.

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Then there was Miss Rédactrice du Mode—a section devoted to magazine editors who had a hand in Gaultier’s career over the years—which seemed to be the fan favorite among attendees. There was Chantal Monaghan as Carine Roitfeld.

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Magdalena Jasek as Grace Coddington.

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And Lindsey Wixon as Suzy Menkes among others.

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And as with all beauty pageants, the competition came down to two forerunners: models Anna Cleveland and Coco Rocha both of whom were dressed in new renderings of Gaultier’s iconic corset-bra dresses.

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[Spoiler Alert: Coco won.]

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However, she “fainted” from the excitement.

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Which left Cleveland an opportunity to grab the crown for herself.

The show concluded with confetti. Naturally

And a dance party.

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But the real winner here was, of course, Jean Paul Gaultier for being a remarkable showman to the very end of a very fruitful 38 years. And us, for being a part of the journey with him. This isn’t goodbye though, we’ll see you in January for your next couture show. Au revoir!